Roots: The Gift

Plot

Deviating from the storyline of Alex Haley's book, and the classic 1977 miniseries that followed, the plotline of 1988's Roots: The Gift finds African-born slave Kunta Kinte (LeVar Burton) and his plantation friend Fiddler (Louis Gossett Jr.) helping freed black man Cletus Moyer (Avery Brooks) smuggle runaway slaves to freedom. Roots: The Gift was set during Christmas of 1775 because it was slated for telecast during the Christmas season of 1988 -- December 11, to be exact. This telecast was timed to coincide with the posthumous publication of Alex Haley's book A Different Kind of Christmas, which had nothing whatsoever to do with Roots but did concern itself with runaway slaves at Yuletide. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Cast

• LeVar Burton - Kunta Kinte
• Louis Gossett, Jr. - Fiddler
• Avery Brooks - Cletus

Shaun Cassidy - Edmund Jr.; Jerry Hardin - Dr. Reynolds; Michael Learned - Amelia; John McMartin - Parker; Kate Mulgrew - Hattie; Tim Russ - Slave Doorman; Annabella Price

Credit

Kevin Hooks - Director, Stanford C. Allen - Editor, Gerald Fried - Composer (Music Score), Beala Neel - Production Designer, John A. Alonzo - Cinematographer, Alex Haley - Book Author

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